Oblivious Inamorata
by Metier
Summary: That lacuna in Ryu's forlorn life, screaming to be filled by the oblivious inamorata that is Chizuru Yoshida. RyuXChizuru.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: That lacuna in Ryu's forlorn life, screaming to be filled by the oblivious inamorata that is Chizuru Yoshida.

Characters: Chizuru Yoshida, Ryu Sanada

Genre: Romance

* * *

"Sometime's I wish you were my daughter." commented Sanada's father.

"I would if I could," replied Chizu-chan.

* * *

Thoughts surfaced into Ryu's mind like porpoises from water. Memories flooded into the periphery of his head as he gazed forlornly at the photograph. Both of them must have been 9 years old when the picture was taken. The young Ryu had his eyes transfixed on the sand, as he cupped his hands to collect the grains. Chizuru, still with long, cascading hair then, was using the spade and bucket to build a sandcastle. Both of them had wide grins stretched across their carefree faces. _A budding friendship._

Years on, Ryu became the incarnation of nonchalance and indifference. That former gaiety seemed to have been buried into the deepest crevices of the Earth, never to be elucidated again.

Chizuru, on the contrary, continued to assimilate some remnants of her childhood- be it her rarely genuine happy-go-lucky attitude or that optimistic vibe she sheds around Ayane, Kazehaya and Sawako.

This awkward feeling was a whole new thing to Ryu. This feeling had burgeoned over the last few weeks, as he reached into his pensive self and ruminated over the root of this queer experience. Who would have, ever, in a gazillion years, even caressed the suburbs of the continuum of Ryu's love life? Beneath that ostensibly cool and aloof mien, lies a feeble effrontery of a child and the palpable trepidation of a rejection. It was certainly not the more familiar calf love, this time there was something je ne sais quoi about it. _This love he wanted to pursue._

This feeling was awkward, but familiar, the more it overwhelmed her. She felt vulnerable and agony, it was as though a hole had been torn through her chest, as the jagged pain ripped through her frame, sending her reeling internally. She was oblivious to that naïve puppy love she feebly hung on to. Eradicated, obliterated and pulverized, that was her love_. This throbbing void would never heal; she thought. _

They were connected by an ineffable but incontrovertible thread. It was a thread that loosely joined the couple with disparate personalities yet identical farragoes of problems. Now, sharing this aching lacuna would prove to be an impetus in this pullulating romance.

* * *

Chizu dragged her feet into the room. For a moment, her dragging her feet seemed to be a good sign. For one, at least she didn't collapse onto the ground, as much as she looked like she would at any second. Her hair was bedraggled, surely though there were some futile attempts to comb it, the overall effect screamed unkempt. Judging from the dark pockets underneath her eyes, she looked like she had cried the entire night. Also, she wasn't wearing the prescribed mini skirt either, but rather a pair of jeans. She slumped onto her seat, again oblivious to the concerned glare from Ryu behind her.

* * *

Ryu was spellbound. It was worse than he envisaged it to be. Chizu was an absolute wreck. It was as though somebody had killed the spirit in her. That happy-go-lucky Chizu had been murdered by the cruel serial assassin that is love. He did not know how to help her, as much as his hearts yearns to do so. He did not want to be a nuisance either. He hung on stubbornly to so many concerns and worries. But he knew all these were but trite, selfish excuses- the influence of the Devil that stymied him from extending his reach to her. Kimi ni Todoke.

* * *

A mélange of emotions overwhelmed him as he approached her. On one hand, he was trying to convince himself that this counsel was purely friend-driven, but on the other, he knew that it was a stepping stone into her heart. He had thought it out meticulously and sedulously, even to the extent of perusing online resources pertaining to how to counsel a person. He figured winning the girl's heart would have to take a rain check.

He pulled a chair and sat beside her, gazing at her, as his lips quivered.

"Chizu?" he called nervously.

Relating about emotions was never within his realm of expertise, given the ignorant and emotionless façade he exudes. You have to understand that this was a quantum leap from his comfort zone- accosting someone to help them ease their pain.

He gathered more effrontery and tried again.

"Chizu, I know this is especially tough for you, but maybe you want to tell me what's happening, so I can understand what you're going through." Sanada importuned.

* * *

Chizu was hardly paying attention when Ryu approached her. But when he asked her about her problems, an unfamiliar dwelled in her stomach. Firstly, she felt resistant against anyone who tried to probe into the shell of hers. The protective barrier made up of agony and tears- that she didn't want anyone to enter into. But, she allowed Ryu to creep in. There was this calm assurance and familiarity in the desert of sorrow that really warmed her about Ryu.

The thought that she might have the hearts for Ryu inched into her mind. _I'm trying to compensate for the loss by using Ryu as a replacement. This is all stupid me acting._ She never really got to think of it. Childhood friends for 10 years, been through hell together, is there a fraction of likeliness that a love could develop? _Stop being ridiculous. _Then she recalled the several occasions Ryu looked so grave when he approached her to broach about a subject but every time he was interrupted by an external event. Could it be related? _Or was it her wishful thinking. _She wasn't oblivious now.

* * *

"Chizu?" called Ryu almost endearingly.

* * *

To be continued.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

Characters: Chizuru Yoshida, Ryu Sanada

Genre: Romance

* * *

The room was static with tension. Chizu squatted beside Ryu, tears treading down her blanched cheeks, dripping onto her school sweater.

A slew of emotions dashed through him- he was afraid, despite that gallant stature. He was nervous. He was in pain, looking at her.

Ryu's heart palpitated like a breakneck train as he mulled over how to comfort his inamorata Chizuru.

Ryu was a nervous wreck, on the inside at least. The accompaniment of the ear-splitting and heart-wrenching sobbing overture and the symphony of worrisome thoughts in his mind fomented to compel him to take a leap of faith.

"Chizuru," he whispered in an akin manner.

This side of him was rare or unseen rather. A modicum of discomfiture crept inside Ryu, but he pacified it. The swain summoned more courage instead.

_Ryu do something, you baka, how could you watch her cry?  
_

_

* * *

_

"Chizu," Ryu called more endearingly.

A warmness spread across his chest as Chizu reciprocated that call.

Chizu, sniffing and tearing still, stared forlornly at Ryu. A gush of emotions prompted her to embrace the invitingly warm and comforting Ryu. His shyness and adorable attempt to console her struck a chord in her heart. She hesitated.

Ryu saw that imperceptible glint in her eyes. A glimmer of hope, he saw. He reached out to her again.

He opened his broad arms to offer an embrace, and called amorously to Chizu. A diffident smile caressed his cheeks, and a pair of hopeful eyes looked wistfully at his torn inamorata.

Without a conscious effort, Chizu's weeping had stopped. A tingling vibe besieged her, her negative thoughts neutralised by the delicate and romantic side of Ryu. She moved forward, establishing eye contact with the erstwhile Mr. Aloof.

For a fleeting few seconds the awkwardness of almost tangible. _She was probably blushing, thought Chizu._ Ryu, certainly surprised by Chizu's sudden silent frankness, maintained his composure, futilely perhaps.

Within him, a bubbling concoction of emotions was waiting to be unravelled in an explosion of expressions. He had never felt like this before. Sure, he was moved, rarely, if ever, by the sweet expressions of Chizu. But those were merely transient feelings. He was met with a brutal confrontation and affirmation. Every heart-thumping moment was prodding him to reach out to her.

Time seemed to hang in balance for a few seconds, as the obvious couple exchanged wistful looks.

Chizu vacillated as her ambivalent thoughts returned again. Was this her asininity acting? Her doubts and insecurities played devil's advocate. Was she misreading Ryu's possibly innocuous consoling? Damn this, she thought.

_It must just be my deft vulnerability trying to exploit Ryu's good-heartedness.  
_

_

* * *

_

Ryu was confused. The mien of softness had again left Chizu's stunning canvass, now replaced by a flash of disappointment and perhaps even disgust. Surely, Ryu thought, it was already obvious enough, her love for her.

He reminisced about the several occasions…

During his baseball victory, Ryu had exchanged an ecstatic hug with Chizu. Her svelte bodice against his tough, mean demeanour. That feeling, he couldn't quite pinpoint, but he could never forget that. At that point, for a passing moment, he thought, he'd have the courage to promulgate his love. But, he procrastinated.

On her birthday, he had bought her an enamouring heart necklace with her name engraved on it. Till today, the complement necklace, with his name Ryu engraved in cursive still remains in his pocket, waiting to be given away.

* * *

With every moment, greater doubt seized Chizu, as she felt more ashamed of her naïve thoughts towards receiving Ryu's love. Distraught had robbed her of the realisation of the subtle messages Ryu had given her. _Blithely unaware and sadly mistaken was she._

The temporal electricity that existed between them had ebbed away, a silence cloaking all the room.

Ryu was raging with himself. He felt as though he was being pulled so many ways by the multitude of dilemmas the flooded his head. Hesitance, he loathed, but yet that deep-seated wound of rejection throbbed along with the fear of being turned down. This distorted mixture of feelings was driving him insane.

Chizu paused and took a gander at Ryu. He seemed to be pondering deeply. Beyond the handsome façade, she could see the troubled Ryu, but she was confused at the same time.

Unspeakable tension had usurped the room, as the obvious love between the couple dwelled within each of their hearts, nervously anticipating to be professed, but to no avail.

* * *

Finally, Ryu spoke.

"Chizu, I wanted to make this clear. I've bottled this inside me for very long already." Ryu proclaimed softly.

This was why Chizu adored Ryu. Those words you would never expect to fall from the lips of such an athletic, masculine man. It was a rare sight and Chizu appreciated it.

However, the statement struck her. Icy fear gripped her as her worst speculations seemed to be materialising. _He was going to sever any possible relationships with her_.

The room seemed to have died down abruptly. The tawdry blue-fluorescent lights gave the room a gloom appearance. Ryu's doleful face and his eyes betrayed a revelation that Chizuru wanted to escape from.

"Chizu, I need to ask you something."

_This was the right step towards the goal established by both of the sworn lovers. _

Chizu braced herself, as her eyes welled up, thinking about the impending setback that would devastate her.

"Do you enjoy being with me?" Ryu asked gently, clearly circumventing the crux of the conversation.

Chizu was presented with a dilemma.

"What... Of course, I do, why not? You're just like my brother!" Chizu fabricated a convincing pretense of companionship rather than love.

Ryu went with his visceral decision- which will prove to be an intelligent one.

"I mean… do you think we... are more than friends... as in..." Sanada stumbled, his nerves clearly displayed for Chizu.

A creeping sense of relief seemed to sneak surreptitiously around Ryu. He turned an expectant look on Chizu.

Ryu's heart ached as he looked at Chizu. She looked as though she was about to collapse. Her eyebrows were furrowed in worry and her eyes spelled utter melancholy.

Things had taken a completely unexpected swerve. There he was, it was euphemistic invitation, but finally our oblivious inamorata Chizu was enlightened.

She recollected, thinking of any signs of this love. She was starkly reminded of the little consolations, like the one that just occurred. She remembered the heart shaped necklace from Ryu. A simulacrum of smile tickled her lips as she thought at her ignorance. _Ignorance ignored bliss_.

* * *

Confronted with such a revelation, Chizu replied "Yes, Ryu. I would love to." Her words seemed to reverberate through the room like a dulcet overture.

Ryu was amazingly surprised. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the necklace. The silver reflected the energetic atmosphere in the room.

"Can I put this on for you?" Ryu requested.

The necklace sealed her love with him and established their mutual love.

She nodded, as a pulsating warmness enveloped her.

The necklace caressed her neck and then her chest. Ryu slid it carefully across her neck, whispering into her ear "I love you."

* * *

"I love you too."


	3. Chapter 3

He ran away, hoping that Chizuru wouldn't chase after him.

Underneath the starless blanket of black as snowflakes lazily descended onto the hallowed grounds of the New Year celebration site.

_Please don't follow me... please don't... He could get it done in 10 minutes and be back. _

Then he heard her calling after him.

"Ryu... Wait… Where are you going?" Chizuru enquired between heavy inhalations and exhalations of the wintry zephyrs.

Ryu trod a few more steps in the piling snow before turning around to be greeted by a puzzling look from Chizu. He consolidated his thoughts and replied "I was bored. Figured that Joe wanted to spend some alone time with Yano-chin..."

"Oh, ya, of course..." Chizuru agreed though her perplexity remained.

_He needed to do this alone, for her.. _

"You go ahead and look around first... Kazehaya called me a while ago." lied Ryu, rehearsing his carefully-orchestrated plan in his head.

The chestnut-brown haired lover muttered an almost inaudible "hai" before retreating back into the crowd.

_Alright, coast is clear. The shrine was 5 minutes away. _

He cast a furtive look to the burgeoning crowd where Chizu had disappeared into before beginning his brisk walk north east.

_Something was not quite right._

Chizu snaked her way through the suffocating mass of festival goers as she attempted to fathom the enigma that is Ryu. But it was an exercise in futility amidst the noise of the New Year's Countdown.

_T minus 3 minutes to the New Year. He wasn't going to make it for the magical moment. _

An emboldened sense of urgency overcame Ryu as he broke into a sprint towards the shrine ahead, inevitably nudging and elbowing through the crowd.

Finally, he was in the queue to the altar. _T minus 2 minutes._

Ryu cracked his knuckles in palpable nervousness. Hurrying quickly after the lady before him, Ryu walked up the traditional wooden stairs of the shrine and rang the bell single-handedly.

2 bows, 2 claps and 1 bow. The ritual was familiar; he had practiced it so many times on his own.

"I earnestly pray for Chizu, that she will always be happy and cheerful. And that she and I will always have great times together."

It seemed trite, what he prayed- but it was his own declaration and mission statement. A dedication unsurpassed for the seemingly aloof adolescent and his first encounter with ardent love.

* * *

Meanwhile, Chizu was strolling mindlessly through the throngs of people swarming around her.

_Was he afraid?_ She pondered.

_After all, it was all a new experience. It was for her as much as for Ryu as well. Maybe he had the jitters._

_Maybe the confession was an impulsive declaration for a wall flower like her. _

It was almost time to herald in the New Year, but all Chizu felt was a physical pain that assaulted her stomach as a man rushed past her, unknowingly hitting her. The pain resonated with her heart.

* * *

Frantically, Ryu pore over the celebratory mass.

In the peripheries of Chizu's mind she heard the countdown begin.

"10!"

Ryu's heart raced. Chizu trembled as the overwhelming pang hit her like a sledgehammer.

"9!"

Ryu's blood coursed through his veins like rapid fire rounds. He hadn't got the written oracle but it didn't mattered. She needed him now.

"8!"

Chizu was fatigued. Her surroundings seemed to have been washed into an eddy of noise and anarchy.

"7!'

She reached out for anything as her legs gave way both to her emotional rollercoaster and the blistering coldness.

"6!"

The seconds seemed to decelerate as Ryu entered into the crowd, tiptoeing to find his oblivious inamorata.

"5!"

Ryu, detached from his environment, raced around the crowd, looking for that one countenance.

"..4!"

She now sat at a bench where only the echoes of the countdown were audible, heaving and puffing with effort as tears drenched her cheeks.

"3"

Her heart wrenched as reverberations reminded her of her loneliness. She cupped her face with her hands, as the melancholy asphyxiated her.

"2"

The consequence of his stubbornness to do this alone was materializing.

* * *

She straightened in shock as two firm hands gripped her shoulders. She glanced up.

But before she could get a clear look of the person, a warm sensation came over her as the lips of the stranger locked with hers. Her eyes shut tight as she withheld her lachrymose.

Though physically dry, an inexplicable relief filled Chizu as they embraced.

Then gradually, he let go of his embrace around her waist. Lips still sealed, he whispered. "Sorry, I missed you."

The deep voice ricocheted through her ears. She fluttered her eyes open and witnessed the countenance of Ryu standing before her.

No words were exchanged as they locked eyes.

Chizuru merely regained a step forward closer to Ryu's face and planted a gentle peck on his cheek.

A salty taste of perspiration caressed her lips- but it didn't matter. They were together on their first new year together. And they shared their first kiss with each other.

"I missed you too." And Ryu smiled.


End file.
